Letters to the Editor: Armenians aren’t in a ‘conflict.’ They’re fighting for their survival

To the editor: While the Armenian people are in the second month of a devastating humanitarian crisis, the media, including the Los Angeles Times, remain committed to humanizing Azerbaijan’s genocidal regime. (“War uprooted them. Now it gives these Azerbaijanis hope,” Nov. 9)

Hellbent on “neutrality,” the media have been determined to misleadingly depict this crisis as a “conflict.” They are going so far as to imply that this wave of aggression may even be justified, ignoring decades of institutionalized anti-Armenian hatred throughout Azerbaijani society, and the government’s well-documented goal to eradicate any trace of Armenian heritage from indigenous Armenian lands.

To date, more than 60% of the population of Artsakh (which Azerbaijan calls Nagorno-Karabakh) have been forced from their homes. Azerbaijan has perpetrated a litany of war crimes — documented by human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — including the use of illegal cluster munitions and chemical weapons, the torture and execution of prisoners of war, and the deliberate targeting of civilian populations, homes, schools, hospitals and churches.

As the survivors of genocide, the Armenian people know all too well the existential nature of the threat that Azerbaijan and Turkey pose. It’s time for the media to find its moral compass and fulfill its responsibility to shed light on injustice in the world today.

Alex Galitsky, Glendale

The writer is communications director for the Armenian National Committee of America — Western Region.